The wild desert animals

In M'hamid, we stayed overnight and prepared for the desert. 

For navigation, we use a Garmin GPS device that we connect to the laptop before a tour to transfer new waypoints or exciting routes. We also have an iPad mounted on the dashboard. It runs the perfect app 'Mapout,' a topographic map that shows every small track. Here too, we can enter our own waypoints and routes. We can record the routes driven on both devices so that we can easily find our way back in case of emergency.

With almost 90 liters of water and a full diesel tank, we set off early in the morning on the bumpy main track towards the dunes. After a few kilometers, we encountered the first camels, peacefully lying on the track and challenging us to take a small detour. Then we came across a well where a family of donkeys were waiting until a tourist fetched water from the well with a bucket hanging from a rope and emptied it into a cemented basin.

Following a tip from a tourist guide, we turned off, almost perpendicular to the main track, and drove to the Holy Spring 'source sacrée.' There are several hundred camels located around this oasis, seemingly meeting there to 'drink to the full.' They are also led there by nomads, or they find the water sources themselves because we noticed that the camel driver walks at the end of a group and not at the front.

After another 10 minutes of driving, we arrived at 'Camp Oasis Chegaga,' where we were served tea under a cooling thatched roof. We decided to spend the night there under the shade roof. In the evening, the young nomad cooked a tagine with his goat meat and our vegetables for us.

The next day, we were up early on the track. After just one kilometer of driving, we got out, sat on a rock, and enjoyed the magical sight as camels again approached us in single file and in groups of up to 20 animals. In the background, there was a beautiful mountain range, and the animals were surrounded by palm trees in a dried-up oued.

On the way back to the main track, we were always surrounded by camels, including many young ones that are probably no more than 2 months old. Camels in all colors and sizes. In 2 days, we have surely taken over 100 camel pictures. The animals are curious (also about Louis' camera), gentle, and accompanied by a deep peace - and our hearts expand every time and deeply absorb these images into our souls.

With a large herd of goats, Jasmin made herself the leader by rustling with a bag of french fries.

We enjoyed driving through the sand dunes, almost as if swimming through the landscape. Thanks to reduced tire pressure, we have not needed the sand ladders so far. The sand was followed by a quite bumpy track, partly resembling corrugated iron, over the dried-up 'Lake Ikiri.' Current daytime temperature is 39 degrees Celsius.